


Dependent Variables

by ForNought



Series: Standard Deviation [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Future, Gen, Kids, OFC - Freeform, OMC - Freeform, dads with even more attitude, kids with attitude, sniping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:38:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForNought/pseuds/ForNought
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tsukishina Kei lives a quiet life, doting on his nephew and other dull, yet fulfilling things like that. On one such dull, yet fulfilling, day he gets a blast from the past of the exuberant and annoying kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dependent Variables

 

Kei recognised those voices from a million years ago. He recognised them and he was not certain how he knew them. Every fibre of his being told him to grab Kaito's hand and drag him as far away from the voices as possible.

Kaito stumbled to the chorus of "Tsukki!" and in the time Kei had crouched to apologise the child there was an eclipse. A very loud and annoying eclipse. Kaito frowned up at the eclipse and Kei was certain the boy had already been told plenty of times not to look directly at the sun, even in the case of an eclipse. Unfortunately, Akiteru had been insistent that to counteract his shyness Kaito should greet everyone he met happily and brightly.

"Good morning!"

Kei pressed his thumb into the palm of Kaito's hand and grinned at the boy before squinting up at the loud eclipse.

"I told you it was him! I knew it! Tsukki!"

Kei sighed as he stood. If his hand tightened around Kaito's the boy didn't say anything. It might have been because he was too busy peering at the skinny girl who was rolling her eyes at the two men she was pretending not to be with. It seemed an odd thing to do for a child who couldn't have been any older than seven but she was clearly smart enough to realise that Bokuto and Kuroo were unsavoury types.

"Hullo," Kei said flatly.

"Right," Bokuto nodded without missing a beat. "I knew it was you. Do you still play?"

"Not really."

Kei had never seen anybody look as scandalised as Bokuto did at that which was impressive considering the people he knew.

"That's... Kuroo, tell him! He should still play, right? Play with us."

"I'm busy these days."

Bokuto waved his hand in the air between them and searched his pockets with his other hand. "No, don't worry about it. We can stay in contact and you can let us know when you are free. We can hang out, just like old times."

Kei struggled to remember what 'old times' Bokuto was referring to but his most pressing concern for the moment was wondering why Kaito was inching behind Kei's legs.  He did not have to wonder for too long. Kei had noticed Kuroo pulling faces in the corner of his eye some time ago but now it was getting to the point that Kaito was shrinking away.

"Stop that."

Kuroo's face was still twisted grotesquely as he raised his gaze to meet Kei's. He smiled a little sheepishly and said, "I honestly thought you would pretend not to have known who we are."

"I would have if it wasn't for," rather than provide Kaito's name to these people he didn't entirely trust, Kei gestured vaguely to the child hiding behind him.

"Is that your kid?"

"Is that yours?" Kei countered.

"Ah yes, my pride and joy. The apple of my eye."

"Mum pays me to hang out with you," The girl intoned. She turned an almost withering expression upon Kei and Kaito before offering a shallow bow and saying, “My name is Seto Wakana and it is very nice to meet you.”

Kaito was nothing if not polite, even if it usually did take a great deal of needling and prompting. He returned Seto Wakana’s bow and said, “It is nice to meet you too. I am Tsukishima Kaito. I hope that we can be friends.”

Though small, the girl’s mouth took on a sly tilt as she said, “I’m sure that will happen. Can I call you Kaito-kun? It would be more convenient for you to call me Wakana too.”

Kaito nodded quickly, cherry cheeks bulging with the force of his smile. “Thank you, Wakana-chan! Do you want to come to the park with us?”

Kei jerked at Kaito’s arm, mild panic rising behind the blank mask he had managed to maintain. He couldn’t be mad at Kaito per se, but he was not going to feel sorry for the annoyance he felt towards the child. Kaito couldn’t possibly understand how awful it would be for him to spend prolonged periods of time around Kuroo and Bokuto. He probably hadn’t even considered those consequences.

“I would like that very much,” Wakana said graciously.

“Wait, Kaito-“

“Hold your horses, kids,” Kuroo said, hands splayed and face twisted in confusion. “Maybe the adults here should hash things out instead of being held hostage by your schedule.”

"Oho! Don't think that I came here without being reimbursed for the inconvenience."

"Oho, don't think the same is not true for me," Kuroo shot back. Wakana narrowed her eyes at Kuroo before fiddling with the tiny bag that hung from her shoulder. She withdrew a mobile phone from the bag and stuck her tongue out before tapping at the screen. It probably wasn’t that strange of a thing for a kid to have a phone, but that paired with the girl’s precocious attitude was worrisome. Kuroo looked defeated and Kei had to wonder whether he had any say in the girl owning expensive electronics.

"Uwaa! Seto-san sure knows how to handle the pair of you!" Bokuto whistled as he rocked back on his heels. Wakana rolled her eyes but Kei did not miss the knowing smirk she directed at her father.

"Seto-san?" Kei asked for reasons that escaped him. "Is she your-"

"No, no, her heart has always belonged to someone else. While I wish I was the one that got away, someone else had that honour. Some guy that cheated on her on her birthday. I was given the role of the guy who was apparently handsome enough to make him jealous."

"More like Kuroo-san begged her to go on a date for months and she gave in because she wanted to give her friend tickets to a big volleyball match for her birthday," Wakana muttered as her thumbs tapped rapidly at her phone. Kuroo frowned. 

"You can tell Seto-san she is mistaken if she thinks I begged her for months, but she absolutely did use me. Also you are supposed to call me dad."

"Sure I am."

Kuroo sighed, then changed his tack. "Can you believe that my apparently good friend would want to exploit the apple of my eye by dragging her all around town and making her provoke me into speaking poorly of her mother? Can you believe the injustice of it all, Tsukki?"

Kei absolutely could believe it, especially when Wakana rolled her eyes and muttered something about Seto-san being just as eager to speak badly of Kuroo-san. Rather than ask how daughter ended up being such a sour child as to refer to both of her parents by their family names, Kei was left with the task of explaining the meaning of the word exploit to a marginally less timid Kaito.

"It means to use in a bad way. Like making someone do things for your own gain."

"Like when I make you take me into the park?"

"No, that is different because I want to take you there."

"Oh," Kaito said softly with a pensive nod. "Thank you very much."

"Oh my god I am going to die" Bokuto was clutching his chest and Kei became concerned when he realised heart-eyes were being made at Kaito. There was no way Kei was going to allow his own precious nephew to be used in any way that might make him as sour as Wakana.

"No."

"Ah, Tsukki, you don't even know what is killing me."

"If I did know I would at least be trying to help it along a little bit."

Kuroo and Wakana both scoffed and after exchanging flimsy glares turned away from one another. It was an odd thing to see Kuroo pretending the glance thrown over his shoulder was not intending to catch the grin daughter was fighting against.

His eyes only flickered back to Wakana a few times more before Kei got his explanation.

"Bokuto-san is hoping to be spotted by some reporters, like Oikawa-san was when he was out with his nephew. He wants to be able to say something scathing and dismissive of Ushiwaka-san. He spent about a week thinking of what to say and just as long rehearsing its delivery. Honestly I hope this plan works because I have a lot of other things to be getting on with," Wakana drawled, shaking her head at Kaito as though she expected to find some pity and understanding there. Kaito’s eyes were wide and he nodded gravely.

"Ah, so Wakana truly does not enjoy the company of her uncle Bokuto."

"That sounds about right."

"You can see why I had to be here too," Kuroo grinned at Kei before adopting a stern demeanour to separate what was on the cusp of becoming an actual fistfight if Bokuto's clenched hands and Wakana's cocky expression were anything to go by. 

If Kei hadn’t seen the covert smiles shared by Kuroo and Wakana, he would not have come close to agreeing with Kuroo’s statement. He didn’t doubt that Kuroo and his daughter would get into a pretend fight just to keep up appearances. It was odd but Kei was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain his disinterest in their affairs.

“I hope you find your reporters, Bokuto-san,” Kei said as politely as he could. He was trying to set a good example for Kaito. “We have to get going to the park now. Goodbye, Kuroo-san, Wakana-san.”

Kuroo closed his mouth and frowned. He said nothing as he nodded. Bokuto and Wakana both looked more put out by Kei’s farewell. Wakana’s face turned darker when Kaito waved over his shoulder and called, “See you, Wakana-chan!”

Kei could already tell that something was amiss, just four steps away from the troublesome trio he had just managed to escape from. He wasn’t too surprised when he could proceed no further due to a leaden weight binding him to the ground. Wakana was wrapped around Kaito with a fearsome expression etched across her face.

“I want to come to the park too.”

“I think you’ll have to ask your dad for permission, not me,” Kei said.

“I did. He said I can come,” She said seriously. Then, “But he and Bokuto-san are coming too.”

“Right.” Kei had been fully defeated. He could only pretend to be so miserable when Bokuto loudly explained why they were in Miyagi all the way to the park.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This part of the series is most closely linked with the Oikawa-centric installment.


End file.
